Golf course sand traps require ongoing maintenance just like other portions of a golf course. The sand within the traps is subject to compaction, erosion and infestation of unwanted vegetation, all undesirable conditions for the sand traps.
Maintaining the sand traps to alleviate the above-mentioned undesirable conditions typically is very time consuming and labor intensive. For example, the maintenance procedure for a typical concave sand trap might be as follows. First, much of the sand that was along the sides of the concave trap has probably eroded to the bottom of the trap where it has become compacted and hard. Furthermore, the trap might have unwanted vegetation rooted in its sides. Maintenance requires breaking up the compacted sand on the bottom and recontouring the trap by moving the loosened sand from one part of the trap to another. The compacted sand can be broken up by manual spading, which is very difficult physical work, or by pulling, with a tractor unit, a mechanical cultivator through the trap. Any unwanted vegetation within the trap should be uprooted by spading or cultivating such vegetation at the same time. Once the compacted sand has been loosened, it must be redistributed through the sand trap so that the proper contour of the trap is restored. This too can be done manually by moving loosened sand from the bottom of the trap to the sides or other areas where sand is needed to restore the proper contour. Sand can be moved manually in a wheelbarrow, a very slow and laborious method, or by means of a tractor powered plow blade to the area of the trap that requires additional sand. Once dumped, the sand must be contoured so as to blend in with the contour of the remainder of the trap. When the recontouring is to be accomplished by means of a tractor powered plow blade, the loosened sand is typically pushed from the bottom portion of the trap outward and up the side walls, creating a pile of sand at or near the top of the sand trap sides. This sand must then be pulled back down and evenly distributed along the side walls of the trap. With the tractor powered plow blade, this is typically accomplished by the operator lifting the tractor plow blade up and over the sand pile at the top of the trap, lowering the blade so that the sand pile lies between the tractor and the blade, and backing the tractor so that the blade pulls the sand back down the side walls of the trap, distributing the sand evenly on the way down. The process of pushing loosened sand from the bottom of the trap up the side walls and then pulling it back down obviously requires that the operator lift and lower the plow blade attachment frequently. Thus, it is highly desireable to have a plow blade attachment for a sand trap maintenance machine tractor that is easy to use, requiring little physical effort to raise or lower the blade.
Prior art plow blade attachments are typically mounted so that the plow blade sits forward of the tractor. The blade is usually attached to the tractor by a pair of support arms which extend back and are pivotally connected to the frame near the front of the tractor. However, by connecting the supports to the frame at pivot points near the front of the tractor, the blade support arms are more likely to lift the front of the tractor off of the ground when the blade is pushed forward by the tractor. This is disadvantageous since the tractor is usually steered by the front wheel and since the front wheel is usually a driving wheel also.
Prior art blade attachments also usually include a spring assembly wherein the blade and blade supports are spring loaded up so as to reduce the effort required by the operator to raise or lower the blade supports and blade. Prior art blade attachments are typically raised and lowered by the operator lifting, lowering, pushing or pulling a handle bar. The handle bar is typically attached to one of the support arms, either right or left, and extends up towards the operator area. The operator must then lift or lower the assembly by applying force with one hand on the side that the handle happens to be mounted to. Since the plow blade assembly is lifted and lowered by a lift arm that is attached to only one side of the assembly, the assembly must be quite rigid, and thus, heavier and more difficult to lift so as to reduce side to side deflection of the assembly when lifting, lowering or operating it in a mid-height position. Furthermore, the lift handles are typically quite small and difficult to find and grasp when the operator is concentrating on maneuvering the machine in the trap area.
The present invention addresses the problems associated with the prior art sand trap maintenance machine blade attachments discussed above. In particular, a preferred sand trap contouring blade attachment according to the present invention accommodates ease of operation in that it incorporates a blade/support subassembly which includes a plow blade, a pair of plow blade supports pivotally attached to the rear frame portion of the sand trap maintenance machine and operatively attached to the plow blade in front of the sand trap maintenance machine, and a plow blade control member operatively attached to the blade supports and extending towards the operator position wherein the control member comprises an operator gripping surface right and left of a longitudinal center line of the machine. The sand trap contouring blade attachment also includes resilient means operatively connected to the machine and the blade/support subassembly for biasing the blade/support subassembly away from the surface to be contoured.